The use of Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) has been gaining popularity in a great number of applications because of the flexibility and convenience in connectivity they provide. WPAN systems, such as those based on Bluetooth (BT) technology, replace cumbersome cabling and/or wiring used to connect peripheral devices and/or mobile terminals by providing short distance wireless links that allow connectivity within a short (e.g., 10-meter) range. In contrast to WPAN systems, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) provide connectivity to devices that are located within a larger geographical area, such as the area covered by a building or a campus, for example. WLAN systems based on IEEE 802.11 standard specifications, typically operate within a 100-meter range, and are generally utilized to supplement the communication capacity provided by traditional wired Local Area Networks (LANs) that are installed in the same geographic area as the WLAN system.
In some instances, WLAN systems may be operated in conjunction with WPAN systems to provide users with an enhanced overall functionality. For example, Bluetooth technology may be utilized to connect a laptop computer or a handheld wireless terminal to a peripheral device, such as a keyboard, mouse, headphone, speaker, and/or printer, while the laptop computer or the handheld wireless terminal is also connected to a WLAN network through an access point (AP) located within the building.
Both Bluetooth and WLAN radio devices, such as those used in, for example, handheld wireless terminals, generally operate in the 2.4 GHz (2.4000-2.4835 GHz) Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) unlicensed band. Other radio devices, such as those used in cordless phones, may also operate in the ISM unlicensed band. While the ISM band provides a suitable low-cost solution for many of short-range wireless applications, it may also have some drawbacks when multiple users or devices operate simultaneously within the band in a small geographic area. For example, because of the limited bandwidth, spectrum sharing may be necessary to accommodate multiple users. Multiple active users may also result in significant interference between operating devices. Moreover, in some instances, microwave ovens may also operate in this frequency spectrum and may produce significant interference or blocking signals that may affect Bluetooth and/or WLAN transmissions.
It may be that a single device, such as a laptop, may perform both WLAN and Bluetooth transactions. In such a situation not only does the problem of potential interference arise, but also due at least in part to the specifications (e.g., size and power consumption) of the device, WLAN and Bluetooth radio devices (e.g., transceivers) may share one or more antennas. It may then be desirable that when a shared antenna is idle (e.g., due to the inactivity of a radio device, such as the Bluetooth radio device), it may be accessible to another radio device (e.g., the WLAN radio device) to increase throughput and/or reliability associated with the wireless transactions.